3 Day Workshop - Mineral Mud-dye

February 2015

Stokers Siding, The Tweed Valley, Northern NSW 

Workshop Cost  -  $550

Mineral Mud-dye (Bogolanfini)

 
Aboubakar's other speciality, after indigo, is the ancient Malian technique of mineral mud-dye, or Bogolanfini.  This process uses a naturally occurring tannin as a mordant which helps to fix the iron in the mud to the textile being dyed.  It is a lovely, very tactile process, especially if you like mud, and it can be combined with indigo to produce stunning results.

This three-day-long workshop will introduce participants to the principles of mineral mud-dyeing.  They will be shown how to prepare the mordant and the mud as well as the textile to be dyed, and how to apply and fix the colour.  Aboubakar uses this technique a lot with very calligraphic designs, and it lends itself beautifully to drawn or painted designs.  After participants have become familiar with the principles and have experimented with samples, they will then work on a large project with Aboubakar's assistance.

By the end of this workshop, participants will be familiar with the techniques of this dye, and should be able to go off and experiment with our local mineral muds and tannin-bearing plants.  Many natural dye enthusiasts will have come across eco-dyeing techniques using gum leaves and all-in-one mordanting techniques, but so far, not much experimenting has gone on using Australian muds.  We hope that this workshop will give you the confidence to change this, as well as to become familiar with an easily-accessible dyestuff which imparts a very beautiful colour and heaviness to fabric and which can be used in conjunction with other dyes, especially indigo.

Aboubakar will be bringing out some organic handspun and handwoven Malian cotton, and we will have some other suitable shawl-lengths – both of these will be purchasable should you wish to use them.  Clothing and other things to bring will be addressed in an email sent out to confirmed participants.  Cost per participant will be $550 – if you choose to book this and the smaller indigo workshop at the same time, a $75 discount will be applied.

There will be a maximum of eight students in this workshop, as this smaller number will allow  Aboubakar to give individual attention to each participant and help them through their project.

 
For all enquiries or to secure a place, please email Johanna johanna.macnaughtan@gmail.com or call 0448 100 496.